Bay Bowen Therapy & Holistic Wellness

Sunday Reflection with Sam — The Beginning of Something
I've spent the past four days away from home in Brisbane, teaching a new group of students as they take their first steps into the world of Bowen Therapy.
There's something rather special about watching people at the beginning of something.
They arrive not quite knowing what to expect.
There's excitement. Nervousness. Concentration. A lot of information going into already-full brains. Hands trying to remember what the brain was just told. Occasionally that expression that says, I'm sorry, you want me to remember WHAT now?
We've all been beginners.
And I think we forget how much courage there is in that.
To walk into a room where you don't know everything, where you dot know anyone.
To allow yourself to be taught.
To get things wrong.
To ask questions.
To try again.
To trust that eventually the awkward, unfamiliar thing you're doing will start to feel like something you know.
As a teacher, I have the privilege of seeing something my students can't see yet.
Potential.
I don't know where Bowen will take each of them.
For some it might become a completely new career. For others it might change the direction of the one they're already in. It might introduce people into their lives they haven't met yet, take them places they haven't imagined, or simply give them a skill they'll one day be very grateful they learned.
They don't know yet.
They're only at the beginning.
That's the beautiful thing about beginnings.
We rarely recognise the important ones while we're standing in them.
Sometimes they just look like a room full of unfamiliar faces, a slightly overwhelmed brain and the decision to give something new a go, and then one day you look back and realise…
That's where it started, and like all good stories, it's only just the begininning.
Sunday Reflection with Sam x

Could Bowen Therapy Be the Career You Didn't Know You Were Looking For?

One of the biggest misconceptions about learning Bowen Therapy is that you need previous massage or healthcare experience.

You don't.

In fact, many Bowen practitioners begin with no bodywork background at all.

They simply have a genuine desire to help people and a willingness to learn.

Throughout your Bowtech® Bowen Therapy training, classes are intentionally kept small so you receive plenty of individual attention, hands-on guidance and ongoing support as your confidence grows.

One of the things students often tell me is how encouraging and supportive the learning environment feels.

But perhaps the biggest attraction is what comes after graduation.

Bowen Therapy offers remarkable flexibility.

You might choose to:

• Work full-time or part-time.
• Build a home-based clinic.
• Join an established multidisciplinary practice.
• Open your own commercial clinic.
• Offer mobile treatments.
• Travel while continuing to work.

Many practitioners also appreciate that Bowen can be less physically demanding on their own bodies than some other forms of manual therapy, allowing them to continue practicing comfortably for many years.

One of the wonderful things about Bowen Therapy is its versatility.

Practitioners may work with:

• Babies
• Children
• Pregnant women
• Office workers
• Tradies
• Athletes
• Older adults
• People living with disability
• People with limited mobility
• Even animals

Not everyone studies Bowen Therapy to change careers.

Some simply want to care for their own family and friends.

Others dream of building a fulfilling profession centred around helping others, some full time, some part time.

Whatever your motivation, learning Bowen Therapy opens the door to a career built on compassion, flexibility and lifelong learning.

Sometimes the career you're searching for is one you haven't discovered yet.

For more information on the courses I teach (Certificate IV in Bowen Therapy 11273NAT & Diploma of Specialised Bowen Therapy 11274NAT) delivered through Bowen Training Australia RTO41134, please comment below 'more info' send me a message, or jump on to the Bowen Training Australia website for more information and future class dates and locations https://bowentraining.com.au/?course=bta-cert-iv-units®ion=&state=&instructor=samantha-ashley&module=&s=

Hi All, I have created a page for my author profile - ooh lala - and would love it if you guys could follow it/like it. I'm on a very steep learning curve to market my book which is due for release on 1st Dec and apparently this is what I need to do, so a follow on my author page will be helpful if you don't mind - this is the link
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61592005645274

Samantha Ashley Author of Welcome to the Sh!tshow. Bowen Therapist and Trainer. Naturopath. Speaker. Photographer. Gen X woman navigating midlife with humour, honesty and a healthy dose of sarcasm. Based in Hervey Bay, Queensland. Book out December 1st.

In the coming week, my manuscript should finally be ready for professional assessment. To say I'm excited would be an understatement and to say I'm terrified would also be accurate.
Over the last couple of years, writing this book has become a little like raising a child. The early stages felt like a pregnancy of sorts with ideas, thoughts, fragments of stories and life observations scribbled on scraps of paper and saved on my hard drive. Then came the long process of nurturing it, shaping it, feeding it, watching it grow into something that closely resembles a fully formed individual.
Now I find myself at the point where I have to hand it over to someone else for a professional opinion, and I feel that's a very vulnerable place to be. It's like taking that leap out of a perfectly working airplane and hoping your parachute opens!
Like any parent sending their child off on the first day of school, I know I have to let it step out into the world and find its own way. I can only hope it's treated kindly and judged fairly although even if it doesn't resonate with everyone the way I hope it will, I will still love it. It has been one of the most challenging, rewarding, frustrating, enlightening and cathartic journeys I've ever undertaken.
Writing a non-fiction, memoir style book is an incredibly intimate process. It asks you to examine your thoughts, your experiences, your beliefs, your memories and sometimes even the parts of yourself you had forgotten or would rather leave hidden.
Since embarking on this journey, I've seen many discussions about using AI to write books. Like most tools, in my opinion I think AI has its place, but I think to write an entire book with AI is doing yourself a disservice.
One of the greatest gifts writing has given me has been the journey itself.
It's been in wrestling with ideas, finding my voice, working through self-doubt, revisiting old memories, discovering new perspectives and shaping those experiences into something meaningful.
Happy to use AI to check my spelling or find an alternative word for me so I don't need to pull out the thesaurus, but writing is a deeply creative and personal experience, and I would have missed so many lessons that process has taught me if I didn't do it myself. To be clear, I am a novice, and absolutely not a professional in this space and this is just merely my opinion from my own experience, but to me, writing is a little like sitting across from someone at dinner. We can spend the evening looking at our phones, or we can engage in real conversation. One loses connection and the other creates connection. Personally, I like to be phone free when I go to dinner and to have that intimate time with the people I am sharing a meal with, but there are others who are not that way inclined and that is perfectly fine if that's your jam.
The book may be the outcome, but the real gift has been becoming the person who wrote it. Anyway, watch this space. My book is very close to being born. 🥰

A few happy snaps from my phone of a most wonderful few days at the conference. Connecting with friends, making new ones, hearing stories, learning new things and the honour and privilege of being able to present to my peers which was scary and exciting all at once. Feeling extremely thankful for all I have gained from this wonderful therapy and how much it has not only changed my life but the lives of others too - more photo spam to come 😌

Lest we forget ❤️

Today, on ANZAC Day, I pause with deep gratitude for the courage, sacrifice, and resilience of the men and women who have served — past and present.

Their strength, their stories, and their willingness to stand for something greater than themselves is something we will never take for granted.

Because of them, we have the freedom to live, work, love, and create the lives we choose.

Today is a day to reflect, to remember, and to honour.

Thank you will never feel like enough… but it is said with the deepest respect.

🌿 Lest we forget 🌿

AnzacSpirit